Stirling prize shortlist

The shortlist for the prestigious 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize has been revealed. Celebrating the best of new British architecture, the shortlist features six exceptional and completely different buildings from across the country.

These buildings will now go head to head for architecture’s highest accolade and a £20,000 prize from the RIBA. The 2012 winner will be announced at a special event in Manchester on Saturday 13 October.

The seemingly simple yet highly innovative London Olympic Stadium, the thoughtful and intimate Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Glasgow, the stunningly original Hepworth Wakefield gallery in Yorkshire, the beautifully detailed and rule-breaking Sainsbury Laboratory for plant science in Cambridge, the New Court Rothschild Bank in London that rises high whilst opening new views at street level, and the crafted and careful reincarnation of the Lyric Theatre on a small suburban site in Belfast - are all in the running for the 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize.

The buildings on this year’s shortlist are all highly-crafted buildings and use rich materials, with exceptional attention to every detail. These are buildings that clearly value the individual and visitor’s experience; from the very personal and peaceful Maggie’s Cancer Centre to the new Olympic Stadium which, despite its enormity, has an atmosphere of intimacy for every spectator.

Heritage and education are strong themes in this year’s shortlist with the success of the Sainsbury Laboratory which houses Darwin’s collection, New Court’s careful integration of the Rothschild’s art collection into its design and both the Lyric Theatre and Hepworth Wakefield skillfully creating exceptional new homes for regional arts.

The six buildings competing for this year’s title are:

1. The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire by David Chipperfield Architects. (William Hill odds: 3/1). David Chipperfield Architects are the only previous RIBA Stirling Prize winner amongst this year’s shortlisted architects, having won in 2007 for the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach,Germany. This is the eighth time that David Chipperfield Architects has been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize, and the third year running; they now match Foster + Partners who have also been shortlisted for the prize eight times. The Hepworth Wakefield is characterised by a series of ten small, irregular, trapezoidal blocks that make up the structure of the gallery, giving it a sculptural appearance, in reference to its contents.

2. London Olympic Stadium by Populous. (William Hill odds: 5/1). This is the first time that Populous has been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize. The stadium has been designed so that it can be taken down and reused in another location – or taken apart and m
ade smaller. The design team aimed to create the most sustainable Olympic stadium to date.

3. The Lyric Theatre, Belfast by O’Donnell + Tuomey. (William Hill odds: 4/1). O’Donnell + Tuomey are a Dublin-based practice, this is the fourth time they have been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize and their second year running: last year their An Gaelaras cultural centre in Derrywas shortlisted. The architects have responded superbly to considerable challenges, including the building’s small, awkwardly irregular and steeply sloping site.

4. Maggie’s Centre, Gartnavel, Glasgow by OMA. (William Hill odds: 9/2). This is the second time that OMA has been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize and it is the only practice to have two buildings on the 2012 shortlist. Rem Koolhaas, who founded OMA, had known Maggie Keswick Jencks (after whom the Maggie’s Centres are named) since the 1960s and Lily Jencks, Maggie’s daughter, was the landscape designer on the project. The building succeeds in the central aim of all Maggie’s Centres – to create an environment of practical and emotional support for people with cancer.

5. New Court, London by OMA with Allies and Morrison. (William Hill odds: 4/1). OMA’s second building on this year’s shortlist. Allies and Morrison has previously been shortlisted twice for the prize. Rothschild’s Bank has been on the same site since 1809. In replacing their previous 1960s building, the architects created an imaginative solution to a very constrained site (part of the Bank Conservation Area).

6. Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge by Stanton Williams. (William Hill odds: 7/2). This is the first time that Stanton Williams has been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize. The laboratory is carefully designed to complement its setting – the relationship to the surrounding 19th century, Grade II listed garden is central to the building’s identity. It cleverly mixes the private and the public – the security and complex scientific needs of a laboratory with a public botanic garden café.

RIBA President, Angela Brady says: “The annual RIBA Stirling Prize celebrates architectural excellence and this year we have an incredibly strong list of contenders. All of the shortlisted buildings demonstrate the essence of great architecture; they are human-scale buildings, places to inspire, entertain, educate and comfort their visitors and passers-by. Every building not only works beautifully from within but has a superb relationship with its surroundings, with a strong interplay between the two. They don’t shout ‘look at me’ and even the tallest building, New Court in the City of London, has created good views for passing pedestrians, meeting the challenge of delivering good urban design in an historic area. The 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize judges have a difficult job to select a winner from this pool of great talent. I can’t wait to see which project they choose.”

The 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize judges who will visit the six shortlisted buildings and meet for a final time on the day of the presentation (October 13th) to pick the winner are: Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (Chair) – architect and former president of the Royal Academy; Sir Mark Jones – Master of St Cross College Oxford, and former Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum; Joanna van Heyningen – architect, van Heyningen & Haward Architects, UK; Hilde Daem – architect, Robbrecht + Daem, Belgium and Naomi Cleaver – designer, writer and broadcaster.